Page 67 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

“What is it?” I sat up, bringing her with me to rest on my lap, straddling me.

“I think—” She stared down at her chest, and I watched with awe as the beautiful green scrollwork of her marks spread, reaching almost all the way across to the other side.

“Oh, shit. It burns.” She held my shoulders as the ink seemed to peter out, breathing hard before she let her forehead drop against mine. “Why does that hurt so bad?”

She whimpered, and the sound broke my heart.

“I’m so sorry. It’s got to be the fractured bond. I’m here, for what it’s worth,” I murmured against her lips, stroking her sides gently. It wasn’t much, but all I could do was hold her and soothe her.

Then the searing pain hit me square in the chest, and my own breath left me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I grunted, and she pulled back, mouth dropping into anoof surprise as my own mate marks finally made their belated appearance.

“Just hang on,” she said, grip on my shoulders steady as she watched.

It didn’t take long. They were no bigger than the size of my palm when the mark stopped spreading, not even leaving onepectoral muscle. Nowhere near the broad span of her marks, and they were still incomplete.

Shit.

“I know it’s not a good sign that they didn’t finish, but that’s got to be a step in the right direction, right?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

I thumbed her lip, the sight of it popping free and glistening wet making me instantly hard again beneath her.

“I guess we’ll just have to keep working at filling them in, won’t we?” My suggestion was husky, strained with a renewed surge of need.

She giggled, a sound I hadn’t heard from her before, and I immediately craved more. I wanted to hear every laugh, every facet of her. Each new thing was a piece of the beautiful puzzle that was my mate.

“If you want to call that work, I suppose,” she finally said. “But we need to get back. This was only a pit stop.”

I grimaced when I realized she was right. “But do we have to put those clothes back on? There’s nothing worse than wet clothes.”

She smacked me lightly on the shoulder, then stood, crossing to our very sad, very soggy clothes, which were also now full of grit from the stone.

Shay seemed truly chagrined when she felt them between her hands. “Walk of shame it is, then. Assuming you know how to climb out of here?” She glanced around the cave, concern turning her sweet scent slightly acrid.

I levered myself up off the floor with a chuckle. “There’s a trail. Come on, gorgeous.”

FORTY-TWO

Shay

We survived the walk of shame, but only barely. Leigh whooping like a psycho and then doing an off-key rendition ofTequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Offwas something I could have lived my entire life never experiencing.

But luckily, no one was mad about our brief escape. If anything, they were happy for us. Bri gave me a tight hug as soon as I pulled on a spare pair of sweats, grinning happily at me.

“How are you feeling?” she whispered, even though we huddled in an empty corner of a hangar.

“Pretty great,” I admitted, a blush heating my cheeks as I stared down at the concrete below our feet.

“No more issues, no more pain?” She gestured to her own chest, mirroring where my mate marks lay.

“Well, actually, yes. So, my mate marks filled in a little more, but not completely. His started, but they’re still small. The size of his fist, maybe? But I thought…” I paused, trying to figure out what to ask her. Then I decided, screw it, she was my best friend and a doctor, no less. “Did you and Kane have sex more than once before your marks filled in? I don’t want to make assumptions, but?—”

Bri chuckled, shaking her head before I even finished. “We’d barely done anything. A hot make-out session, really, and we had full marks.”

My shoulders slumped, confusion and worry weighing me down.

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